Student · Designer · Builder

Exploring Mechanical Engineering

I'm Sonika, a student at Palo Alto High School (Class of 2028) with a strong interest in mechanical engineering and robotics.

Through Paly Robotics (FRC Team 8), I've been exploring mechanical design, learning SolidWorks, and gaining hands-on experience with robot mechanisms and fabrication.

This portfolio documents my engineering projects, design decisions, challenges, and lessons learned along the way.

Explore my projects

CAD model of Sonika's flip-up intake and expanding hopper

Featured project · Summer 2026

Flip-Up Intake Redesign

Redesigning an FRC robot's intake mechanism to explore mechanical reliability, gearbox reduction, chain-driven actuation, and engineering tradeoffs.

View the project

The assembled flip-up intake mounted on the team's robot in the workshop

Currently Working On

CAD Education & Mentorship — Paly Robotics (2026–27)

Developing a structured SolidWorks training curriculum to help incoming robotics team members build foundational CAD and mechanical design skills. The goal is to establish reusable learning materials and a sustainable, student-led onboarding process.

More about my robotics experience